MINSK. July 12 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Interior Ministry has begun talks seeking to invite Wagner Group members to train its troops, and units of the Belarusian Special Forces are being trained by instructors with combat experience, Deputy Interior Minister and Belarusian Interior Troops Commander Nikolai Karpenkov said.
"These special forces have been trained by the instructors of the Special Rapid Deployment Force, instructors with combat experience [and those] who have served in Syria and Libya. Today we are in talks with Wagner Group representatives, who will be involved in combat training together with us, [and who] will share their priceless combat experience," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Karpenkov as saying after a combat readiness inspection of the Typhoon special operations unit on Wednesday.
All units are staffed with contract soldiers who have served at least three to five years in the Interior Ministry's troops. Many earlier served in special operations units, he said.
"The main purpose of special operations units is to enhance combat capabilities in special circumstances. That means the fight against sabotage and reconnaissance groups and illegal armed formations. In order to possess this ability, we have now been working for several months, protecting our state border, working in close cooperation with the border guards and special operations forces," he said.
Special forces units are well-equipped, and they have strike drones and heavy hardware in their arsenals, he said.
"We have the most advanced weaponry, the most advanced special equipment, including thermal imaging sights and quadcopters (not only reconnaissance ones but also reconnaissance and strike drones). With our quadcopters, we can destroy any target detected by our reconnaissance units within a range of 10 km," he said.
"We will work on mastering everything being used and employed in Ukraine, and will put this into service in our forces," Karpenkov said.
Earlier on July 6, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed his readiness to provide the Wagner Group with work in Belarus.